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Tropic Air and the Construction Depot, one of the Benny’s Group of Companies, will seek a settlement after a multi-million dollar land dispute. That dispute arises from a human error in the Ministry of Natural Resources. In a nutshell, a lease to a parcel of land was granted to Tropic Air, which started construction of a six million dollar facility on that land. In April 2014, with construction well underway, a title to a portion of that land was granted to Construction Depot. A significant portion of Tropic Air’s facility lies on the land titled to Construction Depot. Minister of Natural Resources Gaspar Vega called the mix-up a human error in the Lands Department, and claims that he cancelled Tropic Air’s lease. It’s a dispute which could result in tremendous loss to Tropic Air, since that entity has already spent close to two million dollars on its project. Both parties were in court today, along with G.O.B., and while there is no settlement in hand, there seems to be one in sight.
Eamon Courtenay, Attorney for Construction Depot
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Eamon Courtenay
“I think that the parties are making a serious effort to settle the matter. I think that there is a real possibility that the matter can be settled. There are a few matters that need to be resolved, which is to ensure that Mr. Feinstein’s and Construction Depot’s rights are recognized firstly and secondly to ensure that there is no encroachment or continued encroachment by Tropic Air. Clearly, as far as we are concerned, there has been an encroachment and the question is to find a way to resolve that, but I think that with the good offices of the government we were able to do that. Insofar as Construction Depot is concerned, there is no doubt where we are that the title is clear, that the intent was to give us the property that was involved in and covered by the title, but what you have is a situation on the ground where Tropic Air apparently went beyond what they had by way of a lease. That lease, as you know, has been cancelled, which is a different issue. But in terms of what is happening on the ground it is our view that Tropic Air clearly went beyond the limits of their lease.”
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Godfrey Smith
Godfrey Smith, Attorney for Tropic Air
“I will not get into that except to say that our clients equally say that because of the lease they hold they are entitled to the benefits of that lease. But because, Mr. Vasquez, the matter is under negotiation and our parties are obliged to negotiate in a bona fide manner, I won’t comment on those matters at this time.”
Reporter
“Sir something like this seems straightforward enough. There is land that a compensation can be made. Should your client get the benefit of the doubt since they are already occupying a property and work has stopped, etc.”
Godfrey Smith
“All I will say is that I believe that the matter is capable of being solved if all parties continue to act in good faith to reach a settlement.”
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